COREY TAYLOR Says Singing With His Teenage Son At STONE SOUR Concert Last Year Was 'Surreal'

COREY TAYLOR Says Singing With His Teenage Son At STONE SOUR Concert Last Year Was 'Surreal'

STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor spoke to the Wisconsin radio station 102.9 The Hog about being joined by his then-14-year-old son Griffin Taylor on stage last July to sing the band’s hit single “Song #3”. “It was surreal, to be honest,” Corey said (see video below). “A million things go through your head. First of all, he’s a natural. He’d never done anything like that before. We didn’t even practice on stage with him. He and I went through it acoustically backstage. He was 14 at the time. At 14, not only could he lean back on the adrenaline and fall in the pocket, but note-wise, he was so dialed in on it. And then had the presence of mind to be running around stage, going for it, and then at the end, he jumps up on my check-me-out box and takes a selfie with the audience. I would have never in a million years thought to do that. I’d never felt that kind of pride in my life, man. I was, like, ‘Oh, you’ve got the Taylor curse now, dude. You’re screwed.’ [Laughs]”

He continued: “In one split second, I was up on stage and I’m playing guitar, and I was really just kind of backing him up on the choruses and stuff. But a million things are going through my head. I’m seeing him as a kid, I’m seeing him on his first day at school, I’m seeing him struggle with just trying to figure out who he is and stuff, and then all of a sudden — boom! — and there he is. And I’m like, ‘Wow!'”

Asked if Griffin has always gravitated to music, Corey said: “No, man. When he was really young, he wanted to be a florist. And then he was just, like, ‘Well, dad, I’m just gonna be a professional gamer.’ And I was, like, ‘Are ya? All right. Let’s hear your rationale.’ ‘Well, you know, there are people that get paid to play video games.’ And I’m, like, ‘Hey, if you can do that, please, by all means, get in there.’ And then he realized there’s actual work [involved] and a lot of those gamers are actually programmers as well. And I’m, like, ‘That means college.’ And he was, like, ‘Ugh.’ My son’s not the biggest fan of school.”

In a 2012 interview, Corey said that the then-nine-year-old Griffin had “an incredible ear for singing,” but he didn’t think that his son would venture into a recording studio anytime soon. “He already has the bravado,” Corey said at the time. “It is pretty crazy. He wants to be an adventurer. That’s what he tells me. He runs around the house singing and writing songs. But he says he doesn’t want to do anything in music. We’ll see when he gets a little older.”

Corey, however, added that he probably wouldn’t mind it if Griffin eventually chose to pursue a different career path. “I’m honestly not trying to push him away from music, but I almost want him to do something else,” Corey said. “I never, ever want him to suffer in my shadow. I never want him to be in a position where he’s constantly compared to me. And it’s not that I am so full of myself. It’s because I have seen it through the years with everyone from Zowie Bowie to Frank Sinatra Jr. They live in [their fathers’] shadows, and I don’t want him to go through that. I want him to be his own man and create something for himself.”

Taylor went on to say that if his song did decide to eventually become a musician, he would support him wholeheartedly.

“You know me,” said Corey. “If he does get into music, I’ll be cheesed to death. I’ll be, like, ‘Yes!!!’ front row center every show. I’ll get up and play piano with him.”

Corey had Griffin in 2002 with his first wife, Scarlett. The STONE SOUR and SLIPKNOT frontman also has a daughter named Angie, born in 1992.

Taylor divorced Scarlett in early 2007. He married his second wife, Stephanie Luby, in November 2009 in Las Vegas inside the Palms hotel’s Pearl concert theater.

Corey confirmed in December that he has been separated from Stephanie for almost a year and that he recently started a new relationship.